Welcome to Cove

Dragoon Horseriding Trials

To all Dragoons,
Your long awaited horseriding trials are now here. Once you have completed these trials, you will be awarded the "Master of the Steed" medal, and will be fully authorised to ride your steed! This is a grear honour, and is at the core of the squad.

You must complete these tasks, and a full report must be posted below:

Task One: Distance
This task is a demonstration of your ability to ride long distances. To show me that you are capable of this, ride a horse from Cove gates to the statue in Minoc, and back again. This should be done as fast as possible. Write an estimate of the time taken along with pictures drawn along the way!

(http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/1121/distanceza0.png)

Task Two: Jump
An important ability for any advanced horseman is the ability to guide your horse over gaps and obstaces. To convince me that you are able to do this, provide evidence in your report of yourself jumping over a gap of water at least two metres across, and an obstacle at least two feet high.

(http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/4784/jumpxe7.png)

Task Three: Speed
This task should be completed with at least one other guardsman watching. You must complete three laps of Cove Town under their watch. Proof of your trial, accompanied by proof of their presence, should be provided in your report.

(http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/2848/speeddo3.png)

Task Four: Obstacle
It will be important at many times to be able to maintain a high speed on your mount, while avoiding rocks and branches. To show me that you can do this, take your house to a suitable area, and guide it around a path. I don't want to see any reports of frolicking around a green pasture! Make it risky!

(http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/2348/obstacleph4.png)

Task Five: Weapons
Finally, a sketch of yourself riding the horse, armed with both your shield and weapons, and parade arm should be attached to the report. I would like to see evidence that you have successfully killed a monster above the difficulty of a troll or ettin while mounted.

*****

When all of these tasks have been reported on, your trial is complete.

Guardsmen yet to complete the trial:
Anari
Nicholi Ravnthorn
Thomas Sandw Sendrich
Kurt Alimar
Joey Lanai
Flina Trix
Zoie Hayden

Distance:

It was strange sitting on a horse once but I managed to get used to it again after a while. Starting off at Cove gate I ran all the way there to the minoc statue jumping over a great ant hole on the way there! The way back was a little smoother I didn't almost fall off my horse. The journey took around 4 minutes and 20 seconds to complete.


Jump:

This was bar far the scariest, the rock I choose to jump was so big. Its the llama's nose, where the Scouts do all their trainings! I did it, of course though I was still shakey. The horse barely made it but it still did!


Obstcle:

For this task I had to dodge through the forrest which isn't as easy as it looks. I almost got knocked off the horse once or twice by low branches but thankfully I ducked last minute.

Speed:

By far the hardest, I had to do laps of Cove but I had to do them QUICKLY! Also while minding out for random people wandering around. I passed thankfully though I was a little slow (time: 2 minutes and 20 seconds) because the fat old horse decided to stop to eat some grass.


Flina Trix

Horseriding Trials

Distance:

The horse was pretty fast, almost to fast, and when it took off I was a bit confused and fell off.  When I got used to the horse I ran the course as ordered.

(http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6248/distancelc6.png) (http://imageshack.us)

Jump:

After I got used to riding the horse I figured out the jumping part easy, and drew a sketch of my best jump!

(http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8587/jumpyd9.png) (http://imageshack.us)

Obstacle:

I paced myself through the forest at a moderate speed, and made my way out of the forest with minor cuts on my face.

(http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/6722/obstaclexj5.png) (http://imageshack.us)

Speed:

I misplaced the sketch, but I had raced around the city three times and finished a little bit slower than Flina (Time: 2 Minutes and 48 Seconds.)

Weapons:

This was a little tricky at first.  Swinging even at a brute on horse was slightly tricky, but eventually the horse charged forward, and with my mace in hand I smashed the brute down.

(http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6929/combatep8.png) (http://imageshack.us)

*Signed*

Kurt Alimar, Regular Dragoon

It's been a long time since i did this so it took me a while...

Distance:

This went well, I got to Minoc before nightfall at least, and i had forgoten how uncomfortable a sadle is.
The journey took me roughly 5 hours 5 minutes.


Jump:

This is scary. Horses may be designed to jump high and far, but riders aren't.


Obstacles:
This one was easy as the horse generally wouldn't go into the trees anyway, so i didn't have to do much, though Thor didn't seem to care if the branches hit me...


Speed:

I'm like a speeding crossbow bolt... when i can get the horse to move.
I managed to race around cove in about... 3 minutes.


Weapons:

This was not too hard. Shield in one hand, weapon in other. Might be a problem when trying to fight from horse back though.


*Signed*
Thomas Sendrich, Regular Dragoon

---

There.... I thought you'd need no rememberance of my amazing battle skills!!


*Signed*
Thomas Sendrich, Regular Dragoon

*A note in pinned beneath Sendrich's report*

You're supposed to kill something too!

It'd be good if you could add that to your report too, Flina. Should be easy for you!

---

*And another beneath the note*

Alright, good work, Sendrich!

Distance

Being in the saddle again was a comfortable feeling for me and the horse I was given was just the right size. He has a bit of spunk in him too so we charged through the forests to Minoc's statue, then ran back near the coastline to Cove at a good speed. We managed to run the course in just under 4 minutes.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/Pandajuice/Horsetrial1.jpg)

Jump

It took me a little while to find a suitable pool to jump, but once I did, I sussed out the best part to attempt. Charging at full speed, I pulled up on the reins and the horse responded. We easily cleared the distance, but it still made my heart skip a beat.
I then looked for a good height to attempt and found a nice large bramble bush. I ordered the horse toward it, and we jumped the bush just clipping the brambles extending upward.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/Pandajuice/HorseTrials2.jpg)

Obstacle

Trotting through the woods, I came across a dense area of trees so I weaved the horse through them at speed. I even had to dodge a startled deer, and low hanging branches as I weaved. We came out of the dense area with a few scratches, but made it together nonetheless.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/Pandajuice/Horsetrial4.jpg)

Speed

Under the Sergeant's watchful eye and watch, Roseville and I ran the pre-determined course around Cove. We ran at full speed, and I felt I had to constantly tug on the right rein to finish each lap. Luckily it was late evening so not many townspeople were about and we managed to finish all three laps in 1 minute, 55 seconds.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/Pandajuice/Horsetrial3.jpg)

Combat

I knew the brigands around Cove were gaining in numbers so I sought out one of their camps. When I spotted one, I immediately ran in full speed and split the head of one of them before they knew what was happening. The three remaining brigands surrounded me but the horse held firm and I managed to kill them all and scatter their camp.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/Pandajuice/Horsetrial5.jpg)

*Signed*
Zoie Hayden, Dragoon Officer Cadet